The Status of Systematic Knowledge of the Acari of Canada: Tickin' Away
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Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 23 The Status of Systematic Knowledge of the Acari of Canada: Tickin’ Away with Some Mitey Progress Lisa Lumley1, Frédéric Beaulieu2, Valerie Behan-Pelletier2, Wayne Knee2, Evert E. Lindquist2, Michelle Mark1, Heather Proctor3, and David Walter4 1Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 2Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; 3University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 4University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia Fig. 1. Mites collected in one square metre of forest soil in Gatineau Park; mite diversity is extensive! (Image credit: V. Behan-Pelletier). Next to insects and crustaceans, mites of Lindquist and other members of the (Arachnida: Acari) are the most diverse acarology unit, and to the contributions of arthropods. They occupy almost every (un) acarologists associated with other institu- imaginable ecological niche, including sea tions through identifications and specimen trenches and bee tracheae (Krantz and donations. With this impressive expan- Walter 2009; Walter and Proctor 2013). sion, one has to ask: what are the more From Arctic deserts to the heathlands of recent successes and current challenges, Sable Island to the coastal rainforests of and what steps will help us move forward British Columbia, mites are taxonomically to better survey and understand the mite and ecologically diverse in Canada. How- diversity of Canada? ever, the majority (>70%) of the estimated 10,000‒15,000 species are still to be Reference collections discovered or at least described (Lindquist There are few organized collections of et al. 1979). mite specimens in Canada. By far the most When Evert Lindquist started his career important is at the CNC in Ottawa, hosted at the Canadian National Collection of In- by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada sects, Arachnids and Nematodes (CNC) in (AAFC). The Acari section of the CNC hous- the early 1960s, he recalls that there were es approximately 330,000 slide-mounted at most a few thousand mite specimens, mite specimens, and 200,000 vials of spec- with the majority being mis- or unidenti- imens preserved in alcohol (for terrestrial fied. Now, 50 years later, there are an mites and for all specimens preserved for estimated 3‒5 million mite specimens in DNA analysis) or Koenike’s fluid (for water the CNC. Approximately 50% of these are mites preserved for morphological study), identified to genus, thanks to the work with each vial containing one to hundreds Volume 32(2) Winter 2013 Return to front page Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 24 of specimens. The CNC also has impres- has significant holdings of oribatid and erio- sive holdings of Canadian amber from the phyoid mites. Recently, it has been decided Cretaceous, including representatives of to incorporate this now “orphaned” collec- Mesostigmata, Prostigmata and in particular tion into the CNC. The CNC has also ben- Oribatida; this collection of 177 inclusions is efited from specimens sent for identification one of the largest assemblage of mites from by the CFIA (typically upon interception Cretaceous amber in the world, according to of infested plant product shipments at our the paleontologist E. A. Sidorchuk, a world borders, or routine local inspections), other expert on fossil Acari (note that additional AAFC researchers (particularly Ranendra Cretaceous mite material is held in the Roy- Sinha and Philip Barker, Winnipeg), pro- al Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta). The vincial agricultural departments, university CNC contains over 700 primary type speci- researchers, public health agencies, and the mens, and representatives of an estimated public. In particular, these requests have 6,500 (accurately, or tentatively identified) included many plant-associated and stored species. The CNC has a strong bias towards product mites. specimens collected in Canadian territory, The Royal Alberta Museum (Edmonton) but also has considerable holdings rep- holds a mite collection in which over 40,000 resentative of eastern Russia, the United specimens are identified to species. The States and Mexico, as well as scattered col- majority of these come from organic litter lections from Central America, Europe and samples collected by the Alberta Biodiver- Asia. The Acari section of the CNC is the sity Monitoring Institute (ABMI), along with largest collection of mites in North America, personal collecting by Dave Walter and and among the largest in the world. This technicians. The work to date has focused expansive and well-organised mite collec- on Oribatida, but Dave also curated other tion has provided aid to taxonomic re- groups. There is also a significant residual search worldwide through specimen loans collection; Oribatida that are less than 300 or on-site specimen examination. It is an µm in body size and individuals from non- important, and perhaps underused, tool for oribatid groups remain in residuals from taxonomic research in Canada and interna- annual collections taken across Alberta. tionally. Dave Walter retired from his position at the The CNC has benefited from the incorpo- Museum in November 2013 to return to ration of extensive collections amassed by Queensland, Australia and Lisa Lumley is other acarologists in Canada and the United currently managing this collection. States, often after their retirement. These Large holdings of soil mites, water mites include the collections of Donald Chant, a and bird-associated mites have been ac- professor at the University of Toronto and cumulated by Heather Proctor and her a leading expert of Phytoseiidae (see ESC students at the University of Alberta in Bulletin obituary: http://www.esc-sec.ca/ Edmonton. These include at least 10,000 obits/chant.html); Cecil Morgan, who col- specimens of vertebrate-associated mites lected plant-associated mites, particularly from Canada, South America, the Philip- spider mites and phytoseiids; the AAFC pines, China and Australia. station at Vineland, Ontario, primarily as- The Lyman Museum (Sainte-Anne-de- sembled by Howard Thistlewood; David Bellevue, Québec) has an important collec- Cook of Wayne State University who is the tion primarily of soil mites, thanks to the foremost water mite taxonomist of his era; interest of Keith Kevan and Stuart Hill, and David Barr and associates at the Royal in turn through the work of their students Ontario Museum who amassed a collection (two of which included Valin Marshall and, of water mites between 1960 and 1980; incidentally, Valerie Behan-Pelletier). Roger Mitchell who was an expert on water The personal collection of Zoë Lindo, now mite ecology at Ohio State University; John at Western University in London, Ontario, Conroy who worked on water mites at the has grown fast since the beginning of her University of Winnipeg; and Herbert Nesbitt, graduate studies, and now holds over 2,000 whose collection at Carleton University was specimens of (primarily) oribatid mites from particularly rich in astigmatic mites. The BC coastal temperate rainforest, boreal Acari collection of the Pacific Forestry Cen- forests of northern Québec, and peat- tre (Natural Resources Canada, Canadian lands of Ontario, including many paratype Forestry Service) in Victoria, BC, initiated specimens of the family Peloppiidae. Neville and built over the years by acarologist Valin Winchester, at the University of Victoria, Marshall and technician Marilyn Clayton, holds a duplicate collection from BC coastal Volume 32(2) Winter 2013 Return to front page Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada 25 temperate rainforest along with many resi- Despite this, additional collecting is still due samples collected during Zoë’s gradu- necessary, particularly to gather specimens ate studies. from target habitats or hosts and to obtain Five other collections have significant fresh specimens for molecular studies. mite holdings. The New Brunswick Museum Several geographically focused studies (Saint John) holds the Habeeb Collection have been published that include identifica- comprising over 250 primary types of North tions for Oribatida, Mesostigmata, Ixo- American water mite species described dida, and Prostigmata, from the Montane by Herbert Habeeb. This collection was Cordillera Ecozone (Smith et al. 1998), the in private hands before being acquired by Mixedwood Plains Ecozone (Smith et al. the Museum in 1989. It has recently been 1996), grasslands of the Canadian Prai- completely curated while on loan to Ian ries (e.g., Beaulieu and Knee, in press; Smith at the CNC and is now accessible for Behan-Pelletier and Kanashiro 2010), and study. A good collection of parasitic mites Sable Island (except the Ixodida) (Majka are preserved at the J.B. Wallis/R.E. Rough- et al. 2007). More taxon-limited studies ley Museum of Entomology at the Univer- have been made in Cape Breton Highlands sity of Manitoba (Winnipeg) which was National Park (oribatids, Behan-Pelletier largely acquired through the work of Terry 1987), Yukon (oribatids, Behan-Pelletier Galloway. A number of crop mite pests 1997) and the Atlantic Maritime Ecozone and their predators (also mites) have been (oribatids and water mites, Behan-Pelletier studied by Howard Thistlewood (AAFC) and 2010; Smith 2010). his predecessors, and are currently held in The Canadian Arctic has been of par- Thistlewood’s lab in Summerland, BC. The Royal British Columbia Museum (Victoria) has a modest, but growing mite collection. The University of